Did Vanilla Ice Hide Assets In An Attempt To Freeze Out His Soon-To-Be Ex-Wife?

MIAMI — It’s been over 20 years since infamous pop-rapper Robert “Vanilla Ice” Van Winkle married Laura Van Winkle (née Giaritta) at his Miami Beach mansion.

Now at age 50, Ice—who once vowed to kill our collective brain like a poisonous mushroom (and perhaps nearly did)—is soldiering through the divorce process, and possibly not with complete honesty.

“[Laura] has found out Vanilla transferred a substantial portion of their assets into his company’s name, Van Rap, LTD.,” said gossip site The Blast.

Ice allegedly failed to disclose the existence of these assets to Laura and her divorce attorneys. In response, the soon-to-be-ex Mrs. Ice is seeking an injunction against the rapper transferring any further assets until the divorce is final.

Vanilla Ice and Laura Van Winkle (yahoo.com photo)

In happier times, the Van Winkles began their married life running a sporting goods store called “2 the Xtreme,” an homage to one of Ice’s albums. Even in those days, Ice’s brief burst of fame had pretty much been extinguished, and the store represented a new lease on life for the former rapper, who was recovering from a period of hard drug use and a suicide attempt.

Ice would again flirt with music, though never at the level of success he enjoyed in the early 1990s. He would eventually expand his oddly-eclectic résumé to include an appearance in a celebrity boxing special, a reality TV series based on home renovation in Palm Beach County and a stint on Dancing with the Stars.

Ice and Laura have two children together: 21-year-old Dusti Rain Van Winkle and 18-year-old Keelee Breeze Van Winkle. Laura claimed in 2016 that both of the girls were pleased about the impending divorce.

“They wanted it, trust me,” she said.

There may be some truth to the claim. Ice has been arrested for abusing Laura in the past, including a 2001 assault in the couple’s car and a 2008 incident where the rapper struck his wife and kicked her in their Florida residence.

Mere misdemeanors, perhaps, but popular wisdom in this area holds that “anything less than the best is a felony.”